In addition to solid colors, Elements also lets you add patterns to your images. The program comes with quite a few patterns, and you can download more (see Stuff from the Internet) or create your own. Patterns let you add interesting designs to your images or give more realistic textures to certain repairs.

You can use the Healing brush or the Pattern Stamp to apply patterns. The Healing brush has a pattern option in the Options bar. The Pattern Stamp shares a Tools panel slot with the Clone Stamp, and it works much like the Clone Stamp, but puts down a preselected pattern instead of a sampled area. The tool you use to apply the pattern makes a big difference, as you can see from Figure 9-8. The next two sections explain how to use both tools.